31 May 2013

PHOTO: Zambia Visa for Johns Hopkins' International Fellowship

Hooray! This morning my passport and visa for travel to the Republic of Zambia was FedEx'd from Washington DC. The International Reporting Project at the School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University has selected me as one of ten international media fellows to report on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in Zambia. The three week trip will happen in July and include stops in Germany and Ethiopia.

IRP notified me about a week before the GLAAD Award announcement but the official news release was about two weeks ago. Very excited and very grateful to be recognized by such a prestigious international fellowship and institution. I'll be reporting for various outlets and R20 from Zambia. I'm also pleased that my recent report on Zambia for The Atlantic went viral and encouraged more HIV/AIDS reporting from Zambia.

This would be my
second international fellowship and third trip to the continent in
the past 18 months. The first fellowship was a December 2011 trip to the high-level International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa in Addis Ababa sponsored by the Ethiopian government. I'm also scheduled to head overseas later this year on other projects. It's fantastic that IRP/SAIS has supported my work and other independent journalists. Thanks so much to everyone over the years who encouraged and supported me after leaving ABC News to become my own boss! #PraiseDance

You'd better do the damn thang! Congratulations and good luck overseas. I have long admired your work and valued your blog Rod 2.0, as well as you reporting at the Advocate, Ebony, the Atlantic and elsewhere. Keep on doing it!

"The International Reporting Project has selected ten innovative journalists and new media experts to participate in a ten-day trip to Zambia on July 14-24, 2013. ... The program is based in Washington at the Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies."

Many congrats. Very impressed by your Glaad noms, the Glaad win, your articles and now this. Also very interesting that you are the only black American to win this fellowship. Interesting but I guess you are used to that.

Sorry that I'm late to the party but I had to give you your due. Congrats Rod this is wonderful news especially coming on the heels of GLAAD Award. I love the fact that people are always sending you somewhere can I come along in your suitcase? lolz